College saves lakhs of rupees on water

A 3-acre pond dug in the Yenepoya Medical College 15 kms from Mangalore is catching run-off from about 15 acres
of the campus and from an equal area of their neighbourhood. It has already saved the institution a substantial
sum on getting water from outside.
Shree Padre
reports.

The Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka enjoys highest rainfall in the State. Its
annual average of 4000 mms makes 1.6 lakh liters per acre. Yet, this medical
college that has a sprawling campus of 33 acres had to bring water from outside
for 8 months a year! Though they were using their own tankers to bring water,
monthly expenditure came to around 6 lakh rupees.

This is the story of Yenepoya Medical and Dental College at Deralakatte, 15
kilometres away from Mangalore. Deralakatte, Konaje and Mudipu, adjoining areas
on laterite hilltops, have in the recent past attracted many big institutions -
Mangalore University, three medical colleges and Navodaya residential high
School. Buildings, inhabitations and floating population have suddenly jumped
high. Groundwater use has increased multifold. Water scarcity has turned
serious. Very shortly, an complex for the software-major Infosys is to come up
here on hundreds of acres of land.

Yenepoya Medical College's rain pond of 3-crore litres capacity, with an open-well at the
centre, is full during the 2007 monsoons. Pic: Yenepoya.

Thankfully, a massive and project of catching rain, foremost in this area, has
been implemented at Yenepoya. A 3-acre pond dug at the lowest elevation was
completed before the 2007 monsoon. This pond catches run-off from about 15 acres
of the campus and from an equal area of their neighbourhood. It has a capacity to
hold 3 crore litres of rain. " Just a week after the onset of monsoon, this
started overflowing", recalls Narayana Bhat, Yenepoya's project manager.

Adds he, "When we bought the land in way back 1995, a small stream was flowing
upto March. I remember washing my face with its crystal clear water." P K
Thampi, consultant of this project, a retired geologist from Trivandrum selected
this spot for the rain pond construction. On the lower elevation of the pond, a
huge embankment - bund - is built using soil. To cut-off the seepage, A LDPE
sheet, 500 gsm (grams per square meter) was inserted into the deep trench dug in
the middle of the bund. It touches the hard rock layer below. The erosion-prone
sloppy portions of the pond are protected by a lining of coir geo-textiles.

Interestingly, water is not pumped directly from the pond. In the middle, there
was an old open well, 35 feet in depth. It is retained there. Though the stored
rainwater is a little reddish in the beginning, the well water, well filtered by
the soil around remained crystal clear.

The campus has two Colleges - Medical and Dental, hospitals and hostels. Student
strength is 1000. Two yielding bore wells provide about 10,000 litres an hour
each. The yield comes down in the summer. Daily fresh water requirement comes to
4 lakh litres.

Yenepoya is a pioneer in water reuse and rain water harvesting would do better by
starting a planned awareness campaign to sensitise its students, staff and
visitors about water conservation.

This would have gone double but for the water reuse being done in a big way. The
campus has two sewage treatment plants. Since its inception in 1999, all the
used water from hostels, quarters etc is treated and pumped back. Total daily
output from two plants is about 4 lakh litres. This is used for irrigation and
toilet flushing. As such, fresh water is seldom required for these purposes.
Apart from these, an areca plantation, important cash crop of the district, is
coming up using this treated water. "We use only the manure produced in the
treatment plants and nothing else", points out horticulture assistance Vasanth,
"it appears as if it provides all the required nutrients."

This year, for the first time, they could give nearly half a year rest for the
bore wells. For the first time in the last 9 years, they weren't used from the
monsoon onset up to November 15. Outsourcing of water was delayed by 7 weeks.
(The rain pond still has some water and the open well is now yielding only about
60,000 litres a day.)

But there is a practical problem. The open well is at a higher position than the
deeper portions of this pond. As there is bed rock at the bottom of the open
well, it can't be easily deepened. "I am going to suggest a deeper extraction
well at the deepest part of the pond", says P K Thampi, "so that it can not only
extract the water in the tank but the water seeping from the sides."

The new earthen bund's height decreases after about a year. This is due to
seasoning and compacting of the lose soil. Next year, this will be raised by
another one meter by giving an additional LDPE sheet and putting more soil on
the top of the bund. That would store one crore litres more water. These two
steps would considerably increase the availability of water. According to
Thampi, "once the pond is stabilized it should support their total water demand
up to the end of March in 2009."

What's this stabilisation? "Since we dig deep for the pond in summer," explains
he, "existing water from all the four sides flows into that. The water table in
that area would be considerably lowered. Next year, once the pond fills up,
outflow starts in a similar way. The water table would increase." One more
hydrological cycle - that's two monsoons - is needed for the pond to stabilize,
says Thampi. In summer, apart from the stored rainwater, there will be inflow
into the pond. "As such, with such rain ponds you get two way benefits - the
storage and recharge. The situation may further improve, if there are some
summer showers," he notes.

Only recycled water is used for irrigation and toilet flushing. Pic: Shree Padre.

Constructed at a cost of Rs.25 lakhs, by delaying bringing outside water for
seven weeks, the pond has already paid back 10 lakh rupees. By next year, it is
hoped to return the full expenditure. Hopes Bhat, "In another 2 to 3 years, we
would be self-sufficient in water." But there is one area yet to be addressed.
Day today water consumption goes on without restraint.

Yenepoya, a pioneer in water reuse and rain water harvesting would do better by
starting a planned awareness campaign to sensitise its students, staff and
visitors about water conservation. As a part of this, an audio-visual on it's
efforts in these fields and the existing water scarcity outside the campus could
be screened. Water saving devices need to be encouraged. Students' prospectus,
brochures and other campus literatures can carry these messages effectively.
Each incoming batch of students may be taken around and made to understand the
importance of water. This move, in the long run would not only help the
institution, but the society at large too as it is producing future doctors
whose advice will always carry weight.

Increase in pumping groundwater is depleting this belt of its aquifers very
fast. Manjanady, an ordinary village just 5 kilometers away is just one example.
For the last three years, this village has had to supply with tanker water. The
danger light of drought has already on. Unfortunately, most of the people are
blind or conveniently pretend so towards it.

Yenepoya offers a sustainable model of solution for the water crisis, especially
for large campuses, housing colonies and factories which have a spacious
watershed that drives good amount of its run-off to a common point.

The nearby K S Hegde Medical Academy (KSHEMA) and PA College of Engineering have
reportedly started reusing water after purification. It's high time the big
institutions in this area start addressing the water scarcity in a sustainable
way. "There is solution to suit any condition, but they have to be
site-specific," points out Thampi.

Shree Padre14 February 2008

Shree Padre is a journalist with many years of experience in agricultural reporting. He is the author of several books, including one on rainwater harvesting, published by Altermedia.